When Ice Meets Snow
by Corgipaws
Summary: Hiccup Haddock Horrendous III, the Hope and Heir to the Tribe of the Hairy Hooligans, goes home to find a new dragon. It's ultra small and has bright iridescent scales. And it can make portals.
1. Chapter 1

"Come on bud, you can do it," I urged Toothless, my Night Fury. I leaned to my right and his wings shifted with me, and we buzzed past a tree. I leaned to my left and another one came right by, just missing his stomach by a hair. He gurgled with happiness and I patted his neck as we evened out and glided above the forest floor.

"Good job, Toothless," I praised him. I smiled, he was such a good dragon. I looked behind me at the thick wooded area that we had bypassed. I felt so proud of him and I. "Wait'll I tell Astrid about this, she'll never believe me," I laughed.

The sound of wings flapping appeared behind me. "Speak of the devil," I said.

"HICCUP!" she shouted angrily over the wind. I shivered and looked behind me at her.

"Er... Hi Astrid," I replied weakly, slowing Toothless a bit so she could catch up to be beside me. She was surely going to kill me.

"Land!" she commanded, and I did as she said. She landed beside me and I finally looked at her and her Deadly Nadder, Stormfly. "Your father was looking for you, and you weren't there."

I sighed. "Dad's always looking for me, though," I said. I smiled and pointed at the woods. "But, I can go through _that _now, and that's good, right?"

Astrid's gaze instantly switched from angry to downright feral. She hopped off Stormfly and prowled up to me, her boots kicking up dust against the ground. Before I could get away she grabbed me by my shirt and threw me onto the ground.

"Hey-!" I said, before landing face-first into the dirt.

"This isn't funny, Hiccup!" she said as I struggled back onto my feet. I stood up and realized how close her face was. She had tears in her eyes. Astrid Hofferson, near crying. "He seemed angry and-a little worried. No, more like real worried. You have to get back to Berk, now."

I looked down and pondered returning. I didn't feel like getting yelled at, but even worse, I didn't like angering my father. That wouldn't lead to any good. "Alright," I said. I didn't like Astrid upset, either, it rarely happened. So, I hugged her quickly and let go. "It'll be okay," I said awkwardly.

I climbed on Toothless and waited for Astrid to get on Stormfly. Then, we rose in the air and set off towards Berk, my home.


	2. Chapter 2

Toothless and Stormfly stayed outside and Astrid and I went into my house. "Hiccup!" Dad said, running to us. He looked angry. "Where were you? Nevermind... It doesn't matter. There's a wild dragon ruing around and people its annoying villagers. I need you to go and find it. Then get it out of here."

"Alright, Dad," I said, thankful for not being yelled at. "What does it look like?"

"I don't know what you were talking about," I said to Astrid as we started to walk through town. "He didn't seem _that _angry."

Since she was calmer, and more like Astrid, Astrid shrugged. "Well... Maybe I was stirred up in the moment, or maybe he was. I don't know."

We kept walking, until we reached the end of Berk and the beginning of the forest, when suddenly Astrid flug her arm out in front of me and I ran into it. She pointed at something. I looked to where her arm was pointing, and saw a miniature dragon, no bigger than my head. "I think that's it," she said. I nodded.

It was definitely iridescent. "I think that's it," I said. She raced towards it and I followed. "Hey, buddy," I said. I bent low to pat him. "He's a Spirit Caster. They're pretty rare, and a newly found species."

I stood back up and looked at Astrid. She looked back admirably. "You know so much about them."

"Yeah, I guess. Hey, what's he doing?"

The Spirit Caster had began to start wailing and kicking his limbs out, and looked as though he was ready to eat us.

"Astrid, get back," I said. She seemed in a daze and refused to look away from him. I grabbed her hand and pulled her into a bush.

"Is he alright?" she asked. We peered through the leaves to look at him.

He was now the size of Toothless, if not bigger. I had never seen anything like it. A dragon that can change its size?

His wailing started to stop, and he looked normal again. I could breathe. But then, he opened his mouth, and something bright and green shot out of his mouth towards the ground.

What came out of the smoke was what seemed like living color. It went upwards and formed a door, it seemed, but it all happened so fast. "Hiccup!" I heard Astrid say next to me.

The door opened, and I felt some unearthly force tug at me. I was being pulled into the door.

"Astrid!" I gasped. She grabbed my hand and held onto the roots of the bush. I looked towards the Spirit Caster, but he was beign blocked by the door. Suddenly Astrid's grip on the bush's roots had slipped, and both of us were pulled towards the door.

I tried to grab onto the ground, something, but there was nothing, and I came closer and closer to the door. Then I saw a blur, black as night, but in the day sky.

It was Toothless.

He flew in towards us, but I realized, as he got closer, he was being sucked in too. He had tried to come and rescue us, but he only ended up trapping himself.

"Toothless!" I shouted. He had planted all four feet on the ground, but the feet were sliding towards the door. The terrified look on his face was hard to clear from my mind. I managed to grab onto one of his feet, and Astrid another one, but that didn't stop all three of us from going in.

I heard Astrid gasp, and Toothless's moan. I felt astrid holding onto me and Toothless. And I saw a flash of green light, the swift body of the Spirit Caster diving head first into the door with us, and then nothing.


	3. Chapter 3

Someone nudged me. I groaned and shifted a bit. I was so _tired. _It felt like someone was trying to wake me from deep sleep early in the morning.

"don't...are..."

"snow...my..."

"Toothless...dead?"

Suddenly I snapped awake and took a huge breath of air. The air was cold and made my lungs burn. I blinked, and looked around. I was in snow. Astrid and Toothless were beside me, staring at me.

"Hiccup, are you alright?" Astrid asked. She ran up to me and wrapped her arms around me. She hugged me so hard I couldn't breathe. I hugged back back, but let go and tried pushing her away to catch my breath. She loosened her grip on me but didn't let go.

"Yeah... Where are we? Where's the Spirit Caster?" I asked, confused.

Astrid let go of my and frowned. "When we went through the door, we were kind of... _warped_ to this place. The Spirit Caster ran that way," she said, pointing into the distance. Then she pointed the other way.

"I walked that way while Toothless watched over you, just to find anything. And.. I found a citadel, of some sort. It's gigantic, like a castle, and made of glass, I think. But its beautiful."

Toothless, as though in response, walked up to me and pushed his head against me. I smiled at him. "At least we're all okay," I said. I stood up and brushed the snow off my clothes, and shivered. While Berk was cold as stone and snowy, this land was icy and simply freezing to the point of numbness. Astrid stood up too, and I saw her rubbing her hands against her arms. I felt a surge of sympathy for her. She looked so miserable out here.

"Come on, lets see if we can get to that citadel you mentioned. There has to be people inside." We both started walking. It wasn't snowing, but the snow that had already been there was up to our ankles. The sun didn't help much. It was being blocked by thick clouds. I took off my vest and passed it to her. "Here," I said. She gave me a _this-won't-be-spoken-of _look, and put it on.

Toothless was on my other side. I saw icy puffs of smoke come out of his nose each time he exhaled. But he didn't seem cold at all.

I stopped dead in my tracks. Toothless. We had Toothless. A dragon!

"Can you make us a fire, boy?" I asked him.

He looked at me and tilted his head to the side, as though he didn't understand me. True, I hadn't ever told him that command. So I tried again.

"Toothless, fire," I said. I pointed to the ground. He just shook his head and his ear hit me.

I swore loudly and Astrid punched me. "Hey!" she said, "stop it! Lets just keep going, you can practice that later." She shivered again and I realized she wanted to get to warmth.

We continued on the journey, and eventually, the citadel was right in front of it. Long glass steps led up to the main doors.

I stepped up onto the first step. I made the terrible mistake of stepping with my prosthetic leg, and I slipped. If it weren't for Astrid catching me heroically, my face would have been badly banged up.

"Thanks," I said. She nodded. "Just... Be more careful, would you?"

I smiled sheepishly and rubbed my shoulder. "Yeah... Thanks," I said. I was a little embarrassed for having her catch me, and for making that mistake. I hated that leg.

I tried again, and made sure to not slip this time. I had made it halfway up the stairs when I realized Toothless was still at the bottom, having just as much trouble as I was. He scrambled again, but slipped. And that's when I realized this was ice, not glass, we were walking on. I looked down, holding onto the hailing, and kicked it slightly with my good foot. Definitely ice.

"It's ice," I told Astrid, who was behind me, to "keep an eye on me," she had said.

I turned around and waved my hand at Toothless. "You can do it, Toothless," I said. "Fly!"

He leaned back, and then leaped. He flapped his wings, struggling midair, and my breath caught in my throat. His back wing wasn't working, I wasn't riding him. He soared over us, and kept flapping his wings furiously. He was so close to the top. Toothless was loosing his height, and just narrowly landed on top.

"Good boy!" I yelled to him, smiling.

"Go Toothless!" Astrid cheered behind me. We both finished the steps, and at last, the gigantic doors were in front of us.

Toothless reached them before I could. He ran clear into them, slipping on the ice. Astrid and I started laughing.

She walked up to the door and knocked. It was more like a fist slamming into the door, but we were vikings. I had never noticed vikings did that before, but we were so like fish out of water in this foreign land, I was more self-aware than ever.

The door opened. Who answered, was a woman dressed in a long gown, with dazzling, almost hypnotizing blue eyes, and sand colored blonde hair. She looked terrified of us.

"Er..." I hadn't exactly planned out what I was going to say if someone actually answered. After all, what would someone say to a dragon, and two teenage vikings who weren't from around here?

"We've gotten a bit lost," Astrid said. "I'm Astrid, that's Hiccup, and the dragon is Toothless. Please... we need your help."

The silence that hung for a second was so bone-chillingly awkward I had to rub my shoulder again. "Please," I said, "its freezing out here, and we can't find our way back. Day is ending and if we can't find a place to stay we'll die of starvation, or cold."

The woman kept a watchful eye on Toothless, mostly, I realized. "Is... _he,_" she pointed to Toothless, "er... tame?"

I nodded. "Yeah, he is."

She opened the door and took a far step back, almost as if she was appalled by us even going near her. She said, "Please, come in. I can't leave someone out there to die. I'm Elsa."


	4. Chapter 4

_Sorry for the short delay! I'll try to keep up more. Thank you all SO much for the review and the views! It really means a lot. _

The inside was even more elegant than the outside. The walls were blue and purple, and in one room hung a giant chandelier, made of ice, of course. I was pretty amazed. It almost seemed magic. Even the best ice sculptors back in Berk couldn't have made this.

Elsa, she called herself, showed us into a large empty room that was octagon shaped. She stayed far ahead of us, and seemed in a hurry. Astrid grabbed my shirt sleeve and whispered, "She seems pretty scared." I grinned.

"Well," she said, "here we are. I can get you something to eat, if you'd like. Get warm. The ice isn't really cold." She disappeared back through the doors before I could ask her who she was.

Toothless gurgled and leaped into the middle of the room. I walked up to him. He laid down and opened his mouth.

"Wait, Toothless, don't!" I said urgently. I wrapped my arms around his mouth and clamped it shut. "We're surrounded in ice. You'd burn this place to the ground."

He glared at me and and I rolled my eyes. "You're such a baby sometimes," I said.

"This place... It's amazing," Astrid said. She sat on Toothless's back like he was a bench, her eyes wandering across the room like it was a gigantic painting. She rested her eyes upon me and I sat next to her. "Elsa seems finicky, don't you think?"

"She does," I said. "I don't know why. There has to be some reason."

Astrid rested her head on my shoulder. "Maybe this world the Spirit Caster sent us to is filled with people with anxiety issues." We laughed.

"But, she's nice, you have to admit," I said. "I mean, I can count on two hands how many people I know would do this for us, besides her."

She laughed. "Yeah, but you also live in a village of vikings. We can't be affected by _cold."_

"I can just imagine Dad right now. 'Ye' call this cold? This is the middle of summer! And what's with these girly decorations? Ye've gone soft!'"

We erupted in laughter again, and the doors opened. Elsa came in, carrying three steaming mugs on a tray. Astrid and I hopped off Toothless and each took one. "I hope you like tea," she said.

"I've only had this like... twice in my lifetime," I said. "It's good though, thanks."

Elsa nodded, smiled, and set the tray down. She picked up her mug and then sat down cross-legged on the floor, which I found odd. I hadn't thought about it, but where was all the furniture in this room?

"Thank you," Astrid said. She and I sat down in front of Toothless, and I tried some of the tea.

It tasted terrible. Now I figured out why there wasn't tea in Berk. I gulped it down, and cleared my throat. "So... why do you live out here, Elsa?" I asked.

She set down her tea and folded her arms. "It's temporary. I needed a break, from the usual, you know?" she said. "But, I have even more questions for you. Where did you come from?" She widened her eyes at us and looked us down with her eyes again. "You're vikings. I've read plenty about you. But they don't live anywhere near here..."

I opened my mouth to speak but Astrid interrupted me. "Well, we've been searching. For a dragon. Called a Spirit Caster. He's the size of a boat. Iridescent. Have you seen anything like that?"

"No, the only dragon I've seen is that one," Elsa said, looking at Toothless. I looked at him too to make sure he wasn't going to growl. "And I have a hard time believing my own eyes when I look at him, too."

"We _really_ need help finding this dragon," I said. "Do you think you could... help us?"

Elsa took a long time to respond. She looked down, at her hands, and then her eyes swelled with worry and doubt. She ran her fingers through her hair and gulped. She took some breaths and then said, "I suppose."

"Really? Thank you!" Astrid said. She smiled and I did too. "We're going to have to repay you, somehow."

"Oh, really, I don't need anything," Elsa said. Her voice cracked.

"Are you sure? I mean... we could give you anything. Hiccup's Dad here is the cheif of the village, he could get you money-"

"Well, I can't make any promises," I interrupted her. I wasn't sure if Dad would really give away something, especially money, to a stranger.

"I'll think about it," Elsa said. She collected the mugs back onto the tray and stood up with it in her hands. "It's sunset. You'd best be getting to bed. I'll be back with some blankets."

She left. Astrid shook my shoulders. "Blankets, Hiccup." She laughed. "Blankets! Now _that's _a delicacy!"

Elsa returned with the blankets and set them near the door. "Here you go. I'll be off to bed, too. Goodnight, sleep well." She left.

Astrid took two and handed one to me. I laid down next to Toothless and Astrid laid down on the other side of him.

"I like Elsa," she said in conclusion.

"Me too," I said, staring at the ceiling. Suddenly Astrid blocked my view and net thing I knew she was standing on me. I coughed.

"Not too much, right?" she said in a threatening tone.

"R-right," I wheezed. She stepped off of me and laid beside me. I blinked. Well, this was different. I couldn't help but scoot a tiny bit away from her so she wouldn't notice.

"Well, goodnight," she said. She rolled onto her side, away from me. I heard her breathing slow.

I looked at Toothless, who had his eyes closed. "Look like it's just you and me bud-" He snored. "Just me," I said.

I had trouble sleeping. The Spirit Caster couldn't have gone far. We'd find him soon and everything would be back to normal.

But still, part of me wondered: _What if we never got back to Berk?_


	5. Chapter 5

When I woke, I was sleeping on my stomach, with my arms stretched out in front of me. I cleared my throat and lifted my head, looking around sleepily.

"Good morning!" Astrid said. She was petting Toothless's head and making the great suck-up of a dragon purr. The sunlight that came from the large open window made it hard to see, but that made Astrid all the more beautiful. Her light blonde hair looked shimmery and her blue eyes sparkled.

"Uh... Good morning," I said, climbing to my feet-err, foot. "Have you ever noticed you and Elsa have the exact same colors of hair and eyes?"

She rubbed her chin. "No... I haven't..." she said. "But you have," she added with a hint of sourness.

"Well, yeah I just..." I gulped. I hadn't meant it like that. "Notice things, you know me, observant..."

I walked over to Toothless and patted his side. "Sleep good, boy?" I asked him. He purred and hit my back with his tail. "Ow!" I yelped. "Don't do that Toothless."

I realized Astrid was looking at me dreamily, like she was in a haze. "Are you alright?"

"Of course," she said. Her expression turned to worry. "I'm just scared of...this."

"Well, yeah, we all are," I said. I took her hand and hoped she'd feel better. "I can promise I will get us back. We just need to find the Spirit Caster. They aren't able to wrap back unless everyone goes with them. It's like it grows some sort of bond with the other people it warped with."

Astrid nodded and stood up. "Well, standing around and doing nothing won't help. Why don't we get Toothless some food?"

"I was thinking the same thing," I said. "Want some food, bud?"

Toothless leaped up onto his feet and nodded, his eyes bright.

"I saw a lake nearby, we can get him fish there," Astrid said. "Let's tell Elsa we're going there."

Her whole body jerked and she spun around, her hand on her neck. She panted. "You scared me..." she said.

"I'm sorry Elsa, we just wanted to tell you we're taking Toothless down to the lake to get him some food," I said.

Elsa looked hesitant, and then said, "Okay. If you... See anyone, can you tell me?"

"Sure," Astrid said. "But, if you don't mind me asking, why?"

"No reason. Just in case they're dangerous. The dragon looks hungry, you'd best go," she said. She walked away into the next room.

Astrid was still staring at her, so I prodded her weakly. "Come on," I said. I turned around and led Toothless outside, into the freezing snow. Astrid followed.

"We can't do any fancy maneuvers today buddy," I said. He gave me a pitiful look and I grinned. "Well... Maybe."

I mounted him, and Astrid climbed on behind me. She held onto my shoulders and I tugged Toothless up. "Fly!" I commanded.

We took off. "Come on, the lake can't get here fast enough!" I yelled to Toothless, trying to urge him faster. A ambitious grin spread across my face and I felt Astrid's grip on me tighten.

"Aw, come on, this is nothing," I told Astrid over the wind.

"HICCUP! YOU'RE CRAZY!" she shouted back.

I leaned low into my saddle and Toothless soared down with incredible speed, wind rushing through my ears and making my eyes water. I could see the lake, just below us.

At the last moment, I shifted my leg back, and Toothless's wings opened up. You could hear the air resistance move into his wings as we began to descend closer and closer to the ground, right beside the lake. When we were no more than 50 feet away, and at a decent speed again, I hovered him in slow descending circles, and we touched down perfectly.

"Good job!" I praised him. Toothless roared and fired an excited shot of fire into the sky. It erupted like fireworks.

"By Thor, Hiccup, I hate you," Astrid spat. She smirked. "You're insane."

"Err... Thanks," I said. I hopped off Toothless after Astrid and the three of us walked down to the lake's side.

It was covered in ice.

Toothless kept running, and ran straight onto the ice. He gurgled in happiness as he slid across, his feet going crazy trying to keep him steady.

Astrid laughed and ran after him. "Come on," she said. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

I looked down at my leg. It wasn't exactly ice-trekking material.

I slowly and carefully took the first step onto the frozen bed of ice. _So far so good,_ I thought. I took the next step, and lost my grip. I fell face first onto the ice, and swore to Odin under my breath.

I pushed myself back onto two legs and tried again. Once again, no luck.

"I think I'll just stay over here," I called to Astrid, but she was already sliding up to me. She pursed her lips, looking down at me from my spot on the ground. I shrugged. "Well, what do you want?" I asked harshly.

Astrid shook her head. "Nothing,_ Hiccup the Useless_," she said. She turned around and skated back to Toothless.

I scowled. _Hiccup the Useless? _Not again... It was a rather hurtful teasing name I was called years ago, before the stuff with the dragons happened.

I was determined to prove her wrong. I carefully got back onto my feet, and planted my feet into the ground to keep steady.

"One second!" I yelled to her. I took another step, and another. Eventually I was able to walk, albeit slowly. Astrid smiled and ran up to me.

"Good job Hiccup," she said. She wrapped her arm under mine and helped me the rest of the way to Toothless. Suddenly walking was much easier with her around. I hated that leg, and kept a mental note to put something to help grip the ground on it when I got back to Berk. _If, _I reminded myself. _If you get back to Berk._

Toothless blasted a huge hole in the ground, and dug his head in. A minute of silence, and he popped his head back out, chomping on fish.

"I'm scared, Astrid," I admitted. I looked at her.

"So am I," Astrid said. She looked down and kicked the ice. "We aren't the best vikings in the world. We aren't fearless at all."

I laughed and joked, "Yeah, but who wants to be a viking? With their... cold, and bravery and all, and swords..."

She sighed and hugged me. I hugged her back, awkwardly. My fingertips were growing numb with cold. "This'll be one heck of an experience," she said. "Being out here."

"It'll be a learning one," I said. "And Snotlout will have great fun claiming he was here with us."

Astrid laughed. "Yeah, I can't wait." I looked over her shoulder and saw Toothless eating more fish. He looked satisfied.

"Ready to go back? Elsa's probably bitten her fingernails raw," I said.

"Of course, just, be gentler."

We released each other and climbed on Toothless. I rolled my right shoulder, the one I had fallen on. "Don't persuade me to walk on ice again," I said.

"Never," Astrid said. She put her arms around me and I smiled faintly.

I tugged on Toothless's saddle and he flew up. I felt the wind hit my face, icy and stinging. Instead of trying to hold my breath, I breathed in the cold, and shivered. I kept the entire ride back to Elsa's castle as smooth as possible, to Astrid's request.

We landed on the patio of the castle and got off. I knocked on the door, and Elsa opened it cautiously, but let us in. "The dragon is full now, I hope?" she inquired.

"He's a stuffed dragon alright," Astrid said. "How have you been Elsa? We forgot to ask this morning."

Elsa walked us into a room that was little than Astrid, Toothless and I's room, but it had a fireplace, and two couches. I felt a little annoyed she hadn't given us the warm room to sleep in.

Toothless laid down the fire. Astrid and I sat on the couch opposite Elsa.

"I'm fine, just fine," she answered. "Did you see anyone out there? Anyone at all?"

I shook my head. "No... no one," I said. "But, Elsa... why?"

"It's like your expecting someone to come," Astrid added.

Elsa stuck out a hand and closed it into a fist to silence us. "I know, I know, you two want an explanation. Vikings can keep secrets, can't they?"

I nodded.

"Well, in truth, I escaped my hometown, Arandelle, because I was meant to become queen. I have a sister. Her name is Anna. When we were young, Anna and I were playing, when suddenly there was a terrible accident.

"She had slipped, and nearly died. So, afterwards, my parents scolded me. They told me to stay in my room so Anna wouldn't get hurt." There was so much pain in her eyes. Her lip was trembling. "So, I did. And, just recently, I came out of my room for the first time in forever, for my coronation. But, I was so afraid I'd hurt Anna, after many years of being under control... I ran away..."

"She _slipped?" _I questioned. "That wouldn't be your fault, though."

"I had pushed her. Because I was angry at her. Childish stuff."

"Oh, Thor," Astrid whispered. "Anna, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, I understand now why you'd want to be here. It's much easier to get away," I said. I had golden experience with trying to get away from life.

"This castle is my home now. Arandelle is in the past. I try not to fret about it. But sometimes I hope Anna would come to me."

"When did that all happen?" I asked.

"A couple of days ago, to be truthful."

"How did the castle get here?" Astrid asked.

"I don't know," Elsa said. "It was already here. I believe it was an ancient site of some sort."

Elsa's story was amazing. "I hope she comes," I said. At the same time, I wondered what it was like to have a sibling, or a full family. It sounded hard from the way she was describing it.

"Thank you Hiccup," Elsa said. "I do as well." She stood and went to the window. It seemed like she stared out it forever. Suddenly she turned around again, and looked at us. "Now, I believe, we have a dragon to find?"


End file.
